ORIGINS: UNIVERSE, LIFE, HUMANKIND, AND DARWIN

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We debate origins of the Universe, life, Earth, humans, religion, atheism, using common sense, evolution, cosmology, geology, archaeology, and other sciences, to repel biblical creationism and other religious beliefs.

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In Costa Rica, where I live, it is almost unheard of to come out as an atheist unless you are a college student or recognized intellectual. I live in a tiny village and everyone knows I'm OK, but I didn't come out as an atheist until they got to know me as a decent, caring person interested in helping out with the community. Interestingly, since coming out as an atheist, I have been having regular visits by the Jehovah's Witness, never contacting me, but leaving tracts on my front gate.

But there is much more acceptance of atheists here in recent years. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that the Catholic church has done a good job of discrediting itself, and people are increasingly open to alternatives, including atheism.

Monon, if you are in the U.S. you pay a price for revealing you are an atheist. Accused of not having a moral ethic, of not being concerned about others, being an instrument of evil, and lots of other nonsense, you either creep into a dark closet and feel dead because of lack of honest conversation or you put your feet firmly on the ground, stand tall and proud, and state your opinion, knowing you will need a tough skin.

Personally, I feel strong and able to rebut any prejudices confronting me. I do a lot of reading and visiting with others on atheist social networks so am well prepared to meet most challenges. When confronted with a "God bless you" when I sneeze, I state that I do not believe such a thing as a god exists, and I appreciate the blessing. Sometimes that starts a conversation, other times I lose an acquaintance that I thought was a friend. If some one gives me "god talk" I make sure that I state my position, calmly, reasonably, and confidently.

A relative of mine cannot stay away from the subject of religion when I am present. It seems he goes to his friends and finds a new topic which he thinks will convince me to convert. Knowing this about him, I am prepared to come back with a reasoned response. The good thing about these encounters, I feel confident and prepared for anything he brings up. So far, so good.

Depends on where they live, Monon. In the UK it's fine - even though it's not really recognised as such because of our connections to the church. Things are slowly changing though.

In the US things are more frightening. Right-wing conservatives can make people's lives very unpleasant if they are "outed" as non-believers. It's a cultural thing: borne out of centuries of absolute, unqualified belief. It's not going to go away in a few decades.

Interesting things coming up from the exploration of the deep Atlantic including 10 possible new species. Including new varieties of the Entropnuest Acorn Worm considered a Transitional form between Inverterbrates and Verterbrates ie; no obvious brain or senses but the beginnings of a backbone. The results should be interesting once more of the finds have been classified and the results published. They were working at 12,000 feet and have tentatively identified 10 new species. No direct link but it's on MSNBC science and tech page.

The IDiots fail to grasp that designed things are invariably simpler, more streamlined, and more efficient than living things. Extreme complexity is a sign of trial and error, not design. It's truly amazing how backwards they have it. And since they lie about everything else, I'm confident that the Discovery Institute is lying about the Coppedge lawsuit.

I tried to watch Ben Stein's "Expelled" to try to give some intellectual time to see any points the other side of the argument may have had. After being noticeably agitated by nonsense, I had to turn it off around the 30m mark.

As reported in ENV by Anika Smith...Supervisors at NASA's prestigious Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) illegally harassed and demoted a high-level computer system administrator for expressing support of intelligent design to co-workers, according to a discrimination lawsuit filed in California Superior Court.
The lawsuit was filed by attorneys on behalf of David Coppedge, an information technology specialist and system administrator on JPL's Cassini mission to Saturn, the most ambitious interplanetary exploration ever launched. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a NASA laboratory managed by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) where robotic planetary spacecraft, such as the Mars Rovers, are built and operated. Coppedge was a "Team Lead" Systems Administrator on the Cassini mission until JPL demoted him for allegedly "pushing religion" by loaning interested co-workers DVDs supportive of intelligent design.
"For the offense of offering videos to colleagues, Coppedge faced harassment, an investigation cloaked in secrecy, and a virtual gag order on his discussion of intelligent design," said attorney Casey Luskin of Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. Luskin serves as a consultant to the Coppedge lawsuit. "Coppedge was punished even though supervisors admitted never receiving a single complaint regarding his conversations about intelligent design prior to their investigation, and even though other employees were allowed to express diverse ideological opinions, including attacking intelligent design."

As some of you know NASA is my passion. I follow every one of it's missions. I have tonnes of printed material about NASA. In that news item I have highlighted Casey Luskin. Notice where he is from. I have a friend on Facebook from NASA. He told me that JPL was correct in what it did.

On subscribing I was given free access to a screen saver of Hubble Images: ARN Universe Screen Saver for Windows. Includes 14 spectacular Hubble Space Telescope photos and quotes from noted scientists and philosophers about the origin of the universe. When I downloaded it and ran it, to my horror the images were peppered with BS about "Intelligent Design". I immediately uninstalled that screen saver, unsubscribed from the site and sent the director, Dennis Warner a nasty e-mail.

These bloody brain dead IDers use any scullerous means to flog their bullshit.